Being Heero Yuy
by ZaKai
Summary: After being wounded during an unusual mission, Duo wakes up to the surprise of his life. Rated for Crude Humor, Angst, and Language.
1. The mission

**Being Heero Yuy**

**Chapter One**

**The Mission**

A muffled explosion sounded.

"Shit." Duo muttered. Looking up, the braided boy saw Heero further ahead beckoning to him. Taking a look down both hallways, Duo sprinted across the intersecting halls and met up with Heero.

"Wufei's goin' a bit overboard don't 'cha think?" Whispered Duo nervously.

"He's doing what he must to give us the time we need to find this new power source of OZ's." Heero replied with a glare.

"Yeah, but it's not like we've seen _that_ much of a resistance." Duo muttered.

Red lights flashed and sirens sounded as the two boys ran down a hallway with multiple doors on either side. Heero stopped and lifted a hand held computer. "This is it." Heero said as he grabbed the door handle.

Duo looked up and down the hall at all the doors. "You sure?"

Heero grunted as the door proved to be locked. "Stand back."

Doing as he was told, Duo stepped back and watched as Heero took out an explosive devise and attached it to the door. The Japanese pilot pressed a few buttons and looked back at Duo.

"Go!" Heero commanded Duo before pressing the last button.

Duo didn't need to be told twice. Turning around, he began running and heard the other pilot just behind him. An explosion sounded behind the two boys and the force of the explosion knocked them to the ground. As the dust settled, Duo opened his eyes to find Heero laying over him. Grinning mischievously, Duo wrapped his arms around the other boy and whispered, "I never knew you cared…"

Heero growled as he pulled out of the American's grip and headed back to the door. Snickering, Duo followed the disgruntled pilot through the hole where the door used to be.

* * *

Trowa turned his gundam around, scanning the area. The defenses of the base were lighter than he had thought they would be considering they were guarding some new powerful energy source. The construction of the base was still in progress, so there wasn't much to destroy. The number of mobile suits in opposition… few. Too few. Trowa had seen only a handful of soldiers on foot and those seemed to lumber along, as if the effort was more then they could bear.

The tall pilot's brow creased. Now that he thought if it… the fight with the mobile suits had been easier than normal as well… Suddenly the screen in Heavyarms's cockpit lit up to show a very concerned Quatre looking at him.

"03… there's something wrong here… Something's not right. We need to get out of here. I tried to contact 01 and 02 but…" The blonde boy's face took on a frightened far away look before he continued in a concerned whisper. "We have to find them…"

Then Quatre's eyes snapped back to reality. Pressing a button on Sandrock's control panel, the blonde boy looked up and his voice became brisk and business-like.

"05. 03. You will retrieve 01 and 02. I will stay here and finish the rest of the mission. 04 out."

With that said, the blonde's image disappeared from the screen.

* * *

After ten minutes of twisting hallways and steep stairs, the two boys found themselves in a large underground cavern. The braided boy sniffed and wrinkled his nose. Bringing his hand to his nose Duo asked, "You smell that?"

"Hn."

Duo shrugged, looked wearily around and moved his hand higher to wipe his forehead. The cool, damp air felt good after the long exertion to get to the cave. Looking over to Heero, Duo lifted an eyebrow as if to say, "_Well?_", and rolled his eyes when Heero gave him a hard stare and motioned with his gun for the braided boy to follow.

Heero set a slow, cautious pace and Duo figured they must be close to the new power source OZ had found. _At least I get a good view,_ Duo thought as he eyed the other boy appreciatively before putting his mind back to the task of keeping an eye out for OZ soldiers.

Electric lights lined the cavern walls, though only less than half were working. The lighting was sufficient, but it wasn't good enough for Duo to miss tripping over one of the large cables that were strewn over the dirty floor. Holding back a surprised yell, Duo gasped and closed his eyes, knowing he was going to have a close encounter with the ground. Unexpected hands closed around his waist, stopping his fall. Opening his eyes, Duo found his nose a half inch away from hitting the rocky ground.

Knowing the result wouldn't be good, but not able to stop the taunting comment, Duo said, "Aww. Heero you really do care."

The result was immediate and painful as the Japanese boy removed his hands from Duo's person and the braided boy connected sharply with the cavern floor. Duo groaned and lifted himself off the ground in time to see Heero walking off without him. Duo scrambled to his feet and ran to catch up to the dark haired pilot.

"You need to work on your sense of humor." The pilot of Deathscythe muttered as he gently touched his nose. Duo knew the polite thing to do would be to thank the other boy for saving him from a broken nose, but the long haired boy's pride wouldn't allow him to do so, especially after he had just been dropped anyway. Duo saw no need to remind himself that the only reason he had been dropped was because he couldn't keep his mouth closed.

After a couple more minutes of walking, the two gundam pilots found that the cables were leading to a large machine. The machine was built on the edge of an underground lake. When Heero stopped walking suddenly, Duo almost ran into the other boy.

"What? Why'd you stop?"

Heero pointed toward the machine. Duo squinted his eyes, but wasn't sure what his comrade was pointing at. The braided boy shook his head and opened his mouth to speak when he saw it. Duo looked at Heero who looked grimly back.

It was an OZ soldier.

A dead OZ soldier.

As the two boys approached the body they saw more soldiers scattered about on the ground and even on the machine. When they reached the first soldier Heero knelt down and examined the corpse.

"No signs of a fight… No wounds whatsoever… Looks like he's only been dead for a couple days…"

Duo put a hand over his nose. "Yeah well, that's long enough to ripen. Must be what we smelled earlier. Who cares if they're dead or why they're dead. They stink. I wanna get out of here before I sick up."

Heero looked up and glared at the other pilot. "It might be important."

"I thought we were here to destroy the power source, or steal it if we can. What does this have to do with our mission?"

The Japanese boy turned his attention on the lake. "I believe that might be the power source."

"A lake?"

"Why else would they have all that equipment surrounding it? It looks as if this machine is meant to extract whatever power there is from that lake."

"Well it's not working now." Duo commented as he observed the machine.

Duo watched as Heero stood and made his way over to the machine then looked around. The cavern walls were filled with crudely drawn pictures. Pictures of people in, what seemed to be, peace and war. Fighting and Dying. Men, women and children fighting and dying. There were many drawings of lakes as well. Or maybe, Duo reasoned, it was the same lake just different scenes. As the American was about to take a closer look at the pictures, Heero called, "Duo! We'll look at that later. This first."

The braided boy turned away from the wall. "Yeah, yeah." He muttered, making his way toward the lake. Heero had finished with the machine and was kneeling in the middle of a planking that crossed over the length of the lake. The clunk, clunk of Duo's footsteps on the metal plank echoed loudly in the almost silent cavern.

Heero sat up from where he was bending over to get a sample of the water and looked intently at his catch. Duo folded his arms as he looked from the other pilot to the lake.

"You think OZ would put railing on this thing or something…" Duo muttered looking at the wet plank. "It's like, a lawsuit just waiting to happen."

Heero snapped a lid on the container and turned to put it in his pack.

Leaning over to peer into the water, Duo whistled softly. "Wow! That water's pretty clear. Ya know, I thought OZ must have dropped some sink lights into the lake to make it light up like that, but it's the lake. That's awesome. I wonder what's in there that makes it do that. But damn, if that isn't the clearest water I've ever seen. You can see right down to the bottom."

A sound echoed the way the two boys had come from and Duo's head snapped up. Drawing his gun, Duo turned, only to slip on the planking and smack his head painfully on the metal before tumbling into the lake. Try as he might, the braided boy couldn't seem to get his limbs to move and he felt himself sinking. Everything seemed to blur and spin in his fading vision as Duo looked up toward the surface and saw Heero jump into the lake. The world seemed to grow darker as he felt his body begin to tingle and Duo realized his brain wasn't too interested in making sure he was breathing.

Duo felt arms wrap around his chest and knew it was Heero.

_Don't waste your time Heero. I'm dying. Just leave me._ _You know… I never got to figure you out. I wish I could have…I think I'd give anything for that… but now it's too late…_ Duo thought, not realizing in his impaired state that Heero couldn't hear his thoughts.

Duo thought he heard Trowa and Wufei's voices far away, but wasn't sure. Duo felt sand beneath him and a weight press down on him as Heero passed out only seconds before Duo.

* * *

In the darkness Duo heard voices.

"It's a good thing Yuy got them close enough to the shore so that we could get them without going for a dive."

"Yes, but are they going to be alright? I'm telling you something's not right."

"Quatre, they're fine. Except for Duo's head injury, they are both in excellent condition."

"But Dr. Po…"

"Sally. Please Wufei."

"Whatever. If Yuy is in excellent condition why did he pass out?"

"Well to tell you the truth… I don't know. It does seem sort of strange doesn't it? There really is no reason for Heero to have passed out at all. He's an excellent swimmer and like I said before, he's in good condition."

"Let's just let them rest for now. When they wake we should talk about what we're going to do about that base."

"You didn't destroy it?"

"No."

"Why?"

But Duo never heard the answer because the darkness swallowed him again and all was quiet.

* * *

Duo rolled over on the bed and groaned. His body felt like lead and all he wanted to do was sleep. Unfortunately, his bladder was demanding attention. Duo rolled over to get out of bed and hit the wall. Cracking one eye open Duo stared at the wall trying to figure out, in his semi-conscious state, when the wall changed sides.

Deciding to figure it out later, Duo turned over and rolled off the bed. Letting his eyes droop shut Duo walked toward the bathroom the two boys shared. He didn't need to see to find his way. Heero kept the place so clean that… Duo bumped into the dresser that occupied the space between his and Heero's bed and opened his heavy eyelids slightly.

_Well… I guess if the wall can move with out warning, so can everything else._ Duo thought sleepily.

Turning around, the braided boy headed the other way until he met the bathroom door. Duo groped around for the door knob until he felt the cold metal thing under his fingers. Opening the door, Duo lumbered into the bathroom and leaned tiredly against the door to shut it. Duo lurched forward and felt around near the mirror for the light switch. Finding the evasive switch, he flicked on the light.

Duo cracked his eyelids open again to see if he looked as bad as he felt. When the image in the mirror came into focus, Duo gasped sharply as his eyes flew open. The person in the mirror was not the image of the happy go lucky pilot of Deathscythe.

It was Heero Yuy.


	2. Cereal

**Being Heero Yuy**

**Chapter Two**

**Cereal**

Duo moved his head closer to the mirror and peered into the cobalt-blue eyes that stared back. Moving back away from the mirror, Duo looked down at himself and found that he was dressed in the gray pajama bottoms and white tank top Heero favored. The clothes were grungy looking as hell and Duo had told Heero so on several occasions. Of course the Japanese pilot seemed to have a love for ugly, clothes with no style.

Duo looked back to the mirror and moved his hand up to touch his hair. The hair was course and had probably never been properly introduced to a bottle of conditioner, but more importantly to Duo was the fact that no braid connected with his fingers as he brought his hand to the back of his head.

Or Heero's head, as Duo was now beginning to believe.

Duo growled when his body reminded him of the reason he had come to the bathroom in the first place. He had too many other things to worry about right now to worry about bodily functions. _How the hell did this happen?_ Duo thought as he absent mindedly did his morning business. _This is probably just a bad dream… Really… It has to be… Besides if I'm in Heero's body, then where is Heero?_ At that thought Duo froze. The American looked at the door in a sort of dazed horror. Pulling up the pajama pants, Duo slammed the handle down hard on the toilet and rushed out of the bathroom.

Duo looked over to his bed and his mouth fell open. He was laying on his bed. At least Duo's _body_ was laying on his bed. Duo continued to stare at the body, _his_ body, that occupied his bed. Duo didn't need to talk to the boy on his bed to know it was Heero. The Deathscythe pilot had shared enough rooms with the other boy to know how Heero slept.

Duo crept closer and looked down at the other pilot and noticed a large bruise forming on the other pilot's forehead. Reaching a hand up to his own forehead, Duo rubbed absently as he vaguely remembered hitting the plank before dropping into the lake.

The American sighed. To wake the other pilot or to not wake the other pilot. That was the question. Waking the other boy would have some advantages. Not having to suffer alone being one of them. But on the other side, he wasn't sure how the other pilot would act when he found out what situation he was in.

After debating for several minutes, Duo decided to just wake the other pilot. After all, could death be any worse than being stuck as Heero Yuy?

Duo crept quietly over to the side of the bed, stooped over and shook the other boy gently. Quicker then Duo could have imagined, Heero grabbed him and had the American pinned underneath him before he was even awake to know what was going on.

The other boy's vision seemed to clear and the realization of who he had pinned to the bed caused his eyes to widen in confusion. For a moment Duo forgot about the situation they were in and blurted out, "It's not often the great Heero Yuy gets confused."

"Who are you?" The other boy growled.

Duo sighed. "Take a real good look at yourself and take a guess."

Weary confusion filled the other boy's eyes as he took his eyes from Duo and looked down at himself. Duo watched as the other pilot moved his hands over the body that rightfully belonged to Duo. When Heero's hands reached the braid his eyes met Duo's.

"Duo." Heero said flatly.

"Ding. Ding. Ding. And what do we have for him behind door number one Johnny?" Duo said, somewhat sarcastically.

Heero swiftly moved his hands back to holding Duo down. "How did this happen?"

Looking away from the other pilot, Duo whispered, "I don't know. I wish I did…"

Duo felt, more than he saw, the Japanese boy remove himself from holding Duo down and sit back on the bed, back against the wall. Duo moved his gaze back to Heero as the other pilot spoke.

"Do the others know?"

Duo sat up and shrugged. "Just found out myself."

Heero got off Duo's bed and walked over to his own, sat down and looked across the room at Duo.

"You're wondering if we should tell them or not." Duo said and Heero nodded.

Duo thought for a moment, then sighed. "We should Heero. I mean… It's not like they won't find out anyway. It could only be to our disadvantage to not tell them."

Heero raised an eyebrow at Duo's words.

"What?" Duo exclaimed defensively.

Duo watched the thin, though muscular, shoulders shrug. "It wasn't what I was expecting you to say."

Deathscythe pilot's forehead creased as he realized the words he said really weren't something he would normally say. Rubbing his head, Duo said, "Yeah, you're right. Don't know where that came from."

"You should probably be the one to tell them." Heero said.

Duo's eyebrow's rose in surprise. "Why me?"

"Because, if I tell them they will probably think it's just another one of your pranks."

Duo nodded as he saw the wisdom in what Heero was saying. Suddenly a slow smile crept across the face that Duo was borrowing as an idea formed in his mind. Heero saw the smile and frowned.

"Heero…"

"No."

"But you didn't even…"

"No." Heero said, and glared at Duo.

Laughing, Duo said, "Wow. Never thought I'd see that look on _my_ face."

Heero made an exasperated sound, laid back on the bed and turned around so that he faced the wall. Duo blinked. Heero Yuy… sulking? Duo knew a sulking look when he saw one, especially when it was on the face he knew so well.

Duo opened his mouth to comment on the unnatural phenomenon when a growling noise interrupted him. It was the sound of a stomach growling. _His _stomach growling. The stomach Heero was now in possession of. Duo looked down and his eyebrows knit together. This was the first time he had woken up and not felt famished. Another growl sounded and Duo looked up to see Heero turn around and glare at Duo again. Duo grinned and shrugged. Heero sighed in exasperation, rolled off the bed and headed toward the bedroom door.

"Where are you going?"

Shooting a level look at the other boy, Heero answered, "Isn't it obvious. Your body is hungry so I'm going to feed it." With that said, Heero opened the door and walked out of the room. Duo was up in a flash following behind the other boy. The American could hear the sounds of the other three pilots in the kitchen and grinned.

This was just going to be too much fun.

* * *

Trowa lifted the pot and poured himself a cup of coffee as Duo walked into the kitchen.

"How are you feeling?" Trowa heard Quatre ask.

"Fine." Was the only answer that came from the braided pilot.

Trowa turned around and when he saw the look on Quatre's face he raised an eyebrow. Quatre caught his look and returned it was a look of confusion, a shrug of the shoulders and a nod toward Duo who had walked over to the cupboard where Heero keeps his nutria-bars.

The two watched as Duo reached out toward the cupboard then paused and moved to where the boys kept the cereal. Opening the cupboard the boy's watched as Duo stared at the boxes for several moments before grabbing a couple of boxes to inspect the nutrition labels.

"What are you doing Maxwell?" Wufei said in exasperation from the table when he saw what boxes Duo had grabbed.

Returning all but one of the boxes to the cupboard, Duo grabbed a bowl and a spoon and headed toward the table where the milk had been left.

"That's _my_ cereal Maxwell. Eat your own cereal." Wufei complained.

"I would rather eat this if you don't mind" Duo said in a grudging voice.

Trowa looked back to Quatre and raised an eyebrow. Again Quatre shrugged then headed toward the table.

"Are you _sure_ you're feeling alright?" Quatre asked as he set his tea down on the table and sat in one of the chairs.

Duo looked toward the door as if he were waiting for someone then looked back at Quatre, shrugged and poured himself a bowl of Wufei's cereal.

"I didn't say you could have any." Wufei commented.

Ignoring the Chinese boy, Duo poured the milk and began to eat. The other three sat in stunned silence as they watched the normally boisterous pilot calmly ignoring them as he ate.

* * *

Duo stood in the shadows of the doorway and watched the scene play out before him. _Why is he eating cereal?_ Duo thought. _He hates cereal. He normally only eats that nutria-barf stuff._ Duo wished Heero would milk the situation for all that it was worth, but he knew that wasn't the other pilot's style. He also knew Heero wasn't going to tell them what happened. He was going to leave that to Duo who now looked like the Japanese pilot. Deciding to make his appearance, Duo walked into the kitchen and looked over toward the table.

"Oh Heero… You're awake…" Quatre said in confusion.

Duo wanted to laugh out loud and the blonde pilot's expression and wondered what the Arabian pilot was feeling from the two of them.

"How are you feeling?" Quatre pressed on, despite his confusion.

Duo shrugged and tried to act as much like Heero as he could muster. Walking toward the cereal cabinet, Duo pulled out one of the boxes of sugar cereals. Grabbing a bowl and spoon, Duo headed toward the table.

Ignoring the fact that Heero's body really wasn't hungry, Duo poured himself a heaping bowl of cereal. When Duo looked up and saw the shock on the other three boy's faces, he almost broke down laughing. Instead, using all the self control he could muster, Duo kept his face impassive as he said, "Duo has convinced me of the health benefits of eating Fruity Pebbles, and since I look up to Duo so much I have decided to follow his example whenever I can."

As Duo talked, Wufei's mouth dropped open, Trowa raised an eyebrow and Quatre's eyes widened.

"Besides, how can I not idolize someone who pilots such a cool gundam as Deathscythe?" Duo said before digging his spoon into the cereal.

"I wouldn't eat that." Heero murmured.

The spoon stopped short of Duo's lips. "Huh?"

"I don't think it would be wise of you to eat that." Heero said more loudly.

The other three pilots looked back and forth between the two.

Duo opened his mouth to speak, but Heero cut him off. "Tell them."

The American's shoulders sagged. "But…"

"Now."

Duo frowned and said, "You're no fun," Before shoving the cereal into his mouth.

"What's going on?" Quatre asked hesitantly.

Duo shoved another spoonful of the sugary death into his mouth. _This really tastes strange… _he thought as he chewed.

Heero looked at Duo and raised and eyebrow. Duo sighed as he took another bite, not really tasting the cereal as he tried to think of what he would tell the other pilots. He had thought of plenty of pranks he could pull on the unsuspecting pilots, but hadn't really thought of what he was going to say to tell them the truth straight out.

Duo had finished half the bowl before Quatre asked again, "What's going on here Heero?"

Dropping the spoon in the bowl, Duo looked the blonde boy in the eye and said, "I'm not Heero… I'm Duo."


End file.
